Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Down 0.8% on Analyst Downgrade

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPLGet Free Report) shares were down 0.8% on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $265.00 to $260.00. The stock traded as low as $238.09 and last traded at $237.42. Approximately 10,431,853 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 55,421,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $239.36.

AAPL has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Apple from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $230.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.05.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on Apple

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 389,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. The trade was a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Apple

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 198,299 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $49,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Stanich Group LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,677,000. MOKAN Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,404,000. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 53,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copperleaf Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Copperleaf Capital LLC now owns 8,509 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,131,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Apple Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $241.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $230.81.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPLGet Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

About Apple

(Get Free Report)

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.

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